Switched reluctance electric machines are utilized in many applications to convert electrical power into mechanical rotation, or to convert mechanical rotation into electrical power, due, at least in part, to their relatively cheap and durable construction. Switched reluctance machines are doubly-salient, singly excited electric machines and include a stator positioned around a rotor. Doubly salient machines are electrical machines that include both salient stator poles and salient rotors. The interaction between the magnetic fields of the rotors and the stators causes the imposition of an electrical current through the stator to generate rotation in the rotors and/or the mechanical rotation of the rotors to generate an electrical current through the stator according to known principles.
Existing switched reluctance machines generate an undesirably high cogging torque, induce high physical vibrations, and generate substantial amounts of acoustic noise due to the interaction of the salient stator poles and salient rotor poles.